Ivan Graziani
Malelingue

THE REVIEW

First review on Debaser: what to write about?
So I decide to start with my favorite singer-songwriter, the man I consider a second father for his advice and teachings.
"… You know what he does, you know who he's with and who he sees…"
This is how the song "Maledette Malelingue" begins, which opens the album "Malelingue" released by Ivan Graziani in 1994, three years after the previous "Cicli e Tricicli".
An album I consider very underrated: It indeed contains several very interesting tracks that deal with themes characteristic of Ivan Graziani's repertoire: The province, the naïve world of childhood, love…
The album is particularly striking for the Sanremo song "Maledette Malelingue", which stands against the gossipers and backbiters of the province, who have nothing better to do than meddle in the lives of others and judge based on senseless prejudices dictated by ignorance and false moralism, which most often only cause harm to the people involved "… he was chased, sent away to another city… and it's said that her father gave her a hard time… now she's locked up at home and won't come out for a good while…", the ironic lyrics of "poppe, poppe, poppe", where Ivan skillfully hides double meanings while talking about his (our) weakness "…necklines, panettones…healthy exuberance of female hormones…white hills and mysterious furrows…where the greedy gaze lingers", the splendid Spanish guitar of "avrò bisogno ancora di te" with its equally excellent lyrics, the powerful rock of "il topo (signore delle fogne)" where Ivan tells us about a rat that, at the mercy of a hungry python, prays to the lord of the sewers and manages to save itself and eat its attacker's head, teaching us that "who wants to cheat ends up cheated".
Then there's one of the most beautiful yet least considered songs by our artist: "sempre dritto in mezzo al cuore sparerò" where Ivan tells us, with a splendid text and a beautiful arpeggio, the moving story of a prostitute forced to "shoot straight to the heart" because she was abandoned by her father and left with only her mother who weeps sorrowfully at the man's behavior "… My father is gone, our paths have divided… he's away, far from me and my mother… but she thinks of that bastard… and I hear her, sobbing, in the evening… when she's alone, when she's too alone but not me… I will not surrender and always shoot straight to the heart…"
A gem that shows the great sensitivity of this immense artist and man who is little remembered today, perhaps because he never took a political stance or perhaps because he was too unconventional for this Italy that only praises "rockers" with low-level lyrics and music…
The other songs on the album are also of good quality and show us Ivan in excellent compositional form. In conclusion, this is an album that deserves more than one listen and that has given many emotions to the fans of the great Ivan. I, in particular, am very attached to the album and the title track, because it is thanks to the latter that I discovered the genius of this great singer-songwriter and guitarist, "IL CHITARRISTA".